One Word

To be honest I always thought that one word to define a year was kind of silly.  I thought about it a few times, but could never come up with something that seemed like it would fit for me.

The last 6 weeks or so have been absolutely crazy in my life.  From before Thanksgiving we had 3 weeks of off and on puking with the three youngest and the rest of us didn't feel so hot most of the time either.  All the planning and packing that went into our Christmas trip to Paris (with four small children and 4 extra pieces of luggage for my sister in law).  Then being sick for half the week in Paris (so so thankful for our nanny!).

When we got back we had to install a new hard drive and reformat everything on my computer in two days to beat the 12/31 deadline for reinstalling some new software on top of the wicked jetlag.  And finally after weekend trip to visit with my mom's family I am now sick - again.

All that to say, the pictures from Paris are still on my camera and I've hardly thought about my blog at all lately.  So it was pretty crazy that I'd barely seen a few comments about a "word for the year" on Facebook when Monday night this word just popped into my head.  I wasn't planning on doing it, but it made so much sense.

Mindful:
attentive, aware, or careful (usually followed by of ): mindful of one's responsibilities.

Synonyms:
heedful, thoughtful, regardful

Literally it means to me to "keep in mind" and I intend to apply it to all areas of my life.  It means I intend to do less things mindlessly.  From eating to sleeping to being on the computer or with my family.  It doesn't mean that I won't make poor choices sometimes or beat myself up over them, but I hope to realize that if I am choosing to stay up late how that will affect my life rather than having it affect my life and then thinking about it.

I want to be thoughtful in all the things that I do.  Perhaps this will help with my priorities and ability to get things done when I stop to think about why I'm doing something rather than just doing it.

Here's to making 2014 a better year, with perhaps a bit more sleep!

Do you have a word for this year?  Have you ever done this?